Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 85, 2014 Page: 37
296 p. : ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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Perttula and Skiles-Experimental Caddo House Structure at the George C. Davis Site 37
materials, including cane thatch (Phragmites
australis) bundles3, as well as the cutting of wood
structural members.4 The wall posts were short leaf
pine (Pinus echinata) that were 10.7 m tall and 10
cm in diameter, and oak and hickory were used for
interior structural members; the pine poles were
debarked with traditional knives and hoes. Also
prepared were deer and cow rawhide and leather
lashings for the thatch as well as plant lashings
(grape vines) (Cheatham 1992:23-24).
The third and final phase of the house recon-
struction was the construction of the house itself.
The house was laid out in the area of Unit 11 after
a 15 cm thick sterile dirt layer was placed on the
ground surface over the excavation area. After the
radius of the house was laid out from its center
point, the wall posts were marked and excavated,
either with a stake and mallet or by tractor auger. A
total of 48 pine posts marked the walls (Cheatham
1992:24). The first set of 16 poles was set individu-
ally, with attached ropes at the top of each pole.
Once the poles were set in the holes and tamped
down, they were bent and then lashed together.
The second and third sets of poles, shorter than
the primary wall poles at 7.0-8.5 m in length, were
attached and lashed to the primary poles below the
main crotch of the walls. Next, the four interiorsupport poles were installed and bent to attach to
the external house framework (Cheatham 1992:24).
A series of horizontal oak members were then fit to
the walls to create several internal decks and racks
made of oak and pine.
Once the wood walls and internal wood fea-
tures had been constructed, the house was finished
by adding bundles of cane thatching from the
bottom to the top of the structure. Wood needles,
awls, and paddles were employed to hang, clamp
and sew, and paddle the thatch into horizontal rows
around the walls (Cheatham 1992:24).
The completed cane thatch-covered Caddo
house reconstruction was 7.6 m in diameter and
9.2 m in height (Figure 3). An entrance was cre-
ated to face to the south-southeast towards Mound
A, the principal temple mound at the George C.
Davis site.
EXPERIMENTAL PLAN AND THE
BURNING OF THE HOUSE
Over the years, the Caddo house reconstruc-
tion at the George C. Davis site became an iconic
feature of the state park and a visible symbol of
the significant ancestral Caddo occupation thatt~
Figue 3.Competed1981Cado hose construction. oun B i in.he4bckgrund
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Texas Archeological Society. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 85, 2014, periodical, 2014; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1223408/m1/41/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas Archeological Society.